WEAK, INDECISIVE MIDDLE EAST POLICY COMES HOME TO ROOST

One of Mr. Obama’s failings that has not received the reportage it deserves over the last four years has been his weak, indecisive foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Mr. Obama has been trying to be even handed, to be everyone’s friend. As a result, the US has nobody’s friendship, trust nor respect. For example, he has been taking our biggest ally and only consistent and true supporter in the Middle East, Israel, for granted. To wit, he has flip flopped on whether Jersulem should be the capital; he has not taken a strong enough stance against Iran to curtail its development of nuclear weapons; and he has insulted Prime Minister Netanyahu by telling him that he is “too busy campaigning” to meet with him in New York when Mr. Netanyahu comes to the UN later this month. On the other hand, he has been consistently conciliatory toward Egypt, the Palestinians and various Islamic militant groups.

For example, the attacks this week were outrageous, and merited a strong response. Perhaps, they would not have happened at all if our Middle East policy had been more forceful and proactive, particularly around 9/11. Even so, Mr. Obama’s response was tepid, particularly with respect to Egypt. ( “I don’t think we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy.” ) What does that mean? Sending warships to the Med was a good move, but we need to ensure that all the murderers and their leaders are caught and brought to justice. Also, Mr. Obama should instruct Mr. Morsy in the strongest terms that his failure to protect the US embassy was unacceptable, and a recurrence will result in sanctions, maybe a suspension of foreign aid.

This incident was Mr. Obama’s first “3:00 AM call.” I believe that both his preparation and his response were inadequate.